Someday
by quinnovative
Summary: 4 times Jess calls Kara when something's wrong with Lena, and 1 time Lena calls Kara herself. (Established Supercorp, and Lena knows Kara is Supergirl) / Alex/Maggie (sanvers!) appear in chapters 1 and 4 - Chapter 6 is a bonus chapter, in which Lena takes care of Kara.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Background info: **1.** Lena knows Kara is Supergirl, **2**. Supercorp is established, **3.** Lena is best pals with Maggie and Alex, of course. That's all :)

* * *

Lena's face is buried in her arm. She shifts, presses her forehead against the cool metal of her desk and takes a deep breath. It does nothing to dispel the pounding in her skull and she squeezes her eyes closed, lets her fingers push against the skin above her brow.

There's a knock on the door, followed by a gentle "Miss Luthor?" from Jess.

Lena's had the headache for a few hours now, and it must have shown on her face at some point in the day, because Jess quietly eases the door open when Lena calls back, steps in with an apologetic smile. "Last meeting of the day is in an hour, I have all the reports you asked for," Jess says, gestures toward her tablet.

"Thank you," Lena says, stiffening through a flinch when she straightens and her head reels in response.

Jess's gaze drops to her feet for a second, shuffling just a bit before she looks up again. "Are you sure you're okay, Miss Luthor? I can reschedule the meeting if necessary."

"I'm fine, thank you for the concern, Jess, but this meeting is important."

Jess nods and she knows that even if the meeting weren't important, Lena would insist on staying anyway. "Should I arrange for you to leave when it concludes?"

Lena shakes her head, brows crinkling at the movement. "I'll have to make some revisions to the tech after I meet with the investors and I'd like to get started as soon as possible."

Jess nods and she doesn't say anything about the way Lena sways when she stands or the tightness of her hands around the edge of the desk to keep her sturdy.

Jess knows she has no pull on the situation, but there's one person who does.

Kara Danvers.

The younger woman returns to her desk and dials the reporter's phone number.

/

Two and a half hours later, Lena shakes the investors' hands, holds herself upright—posture straight, chin up and shoulders back as she closes the distance toward her office and the men disappear around the hall.

She shuts the door behind her and when the soft thud challenges the stillness of the air, Lena lets her head fall back against it, closes her eyes and rubs her forehead. She's murmuring a string of curse words at the sharp pounding when she hears a shuffle, pulling her eyes open reveals Kara, features drawn in concern for Lena.

Lena blinks, hadn't even noticed Kara standing by her desk when the CEO walked in.

"Hey," the reporter says quietly.

Lena wrinkles her brow, eyeing Kara until the dark haired woman's face morphs into something of understanding. "Did Jess call you?"

Kara looks down sheepishly. "Maybe?" she offers and Lena laughs, stumbles away from the door and tries not to let the increasing pain in her head show. When the noise dies off into the quiet air of impending night, Kara tilts her head as she examines her girlfriend. "What's wrong, Lena?"

"Noth—" she breaks off mid word as Kara raises her brow. "-It's just a headache."

Kara's face softens in worry. "Is it bad?"

Lena shrugs. There's no use in lying, Kara always has a way of figuring out how Lena feels, but she's never been exactly good at verbalizing her discomfort.

It doesn't matter to Kara, who makes her way over and closes any distance between them. She presses a soft kiss to Lena's hair before leaning back. "You need rest."

Lena shakes her head and instantly regrets the action, brings a hand up to her forehead as Kara reaches out and steadies her with a warm grip curled around her shoulder.

"Please, Lena, you're already here later than is healthy. You need to take care of yourself. Maggie and Alex are over now, we can relax together and watch a movie, or you can sleep if you want, or I'll text Alex and we can have the place to ourselves." She rubs her hands up and down Lena's arms. "Please?"

"I _have to_ get this done, I'm sorry, Kara, there's just too much to do and-" A crack of thunder booms outside and cuts off her words, she scrunches up her face and the pain is scorched across her features; a product of stress and forgetting to eat and sleepless nights plagued with exhaustion.

"Lena?" Kara questions, voice leaden with concern, and Lena doesn't open her eyes, just reaches out and wraps her arms around Kara, buries her face in the blonde's shoulder.

"It hurts," she murmurs, "and I'm tired and I'm sorry I haven't been home as much as I should be and I'm sorry that I've been keeping you up because I can't sleep, I just—"

Kara brings a hand up to rub Lena's back, the presence is steady and soothing and Lena finds some tension seeping out of her muscles.

"Home?" Kara whispers into Lena's hair.

The younger woman nods.

"You want Alex and Maggie there?"

Lena nods again.

"I love you," Kara whispers, rocking them slowly back and forth and soaking in Lena's presence and the softening night sky pattering with rain and the twinkle of city lights outside the window.

Lena tightens her hold. "I love you, too."

/

Kara pushes the door closed behind her and clicks the lock just as Alex and Maggie turn around on the couch and look over.

"Lena!" they callout, voices in sync as they move to stand and greet her.

"Shh!" Kara shoots back and runs an arm over Lena's shoulder blade. "She doesn't feel well."

Lena smiles, a soft pink curve that awakens her sleepy features and she lifts her head off Kara's shoulder. In front of anyone else she'd be frustrated with the sharing of her vulnerability, but with the Danvers and Maggie she's only ever met with warmth, and her only reaction is a flush of crimson embarrassment across her cheeks.

She lifts her head off Kara's shoulder. "I'm fine, really. Kara's just being overprotective."

Kara scoffs. "I am not."

Lena just smiles and shrugs and lets her body slink back against Kara's. The blonde pulls Lena closer, runs a hand up and down the younger woman's side. "Does it still hurt?" Kara asks, eyes big and concerned. "Be honest… you're home now, you're with family and you get to be Lena, not the CEO of L-Corp or anything else."

Lena nods. "It still hurts." She presses her face against Kara's shirt and mumbles. "Kind of a lot."

"Do you want to take something? You should probably take something—Alex! What medicine do people take for headaches again?"

Alex rolls her eyes, makes her way over as she shakes her head fondly. "I'll take care of it." She sends Lena a soft smile and rubs the CEO's shoulder. "You go change."

/

It's half an hour later when Lena is clothed in pajamas, medicated, and fed, and Kara nudges Lena toward the couch. "Sit with me."

"I'll be right back," she says when Lena's settled.

Since the Danvers sisters' solution to just about everything is ice cream, Lena's not surprised when she hears the freezer open and the sound of Alex and Kara arguing over who gets the last whipped cream carries over to the living room. She smiles, turning around to observe the chaos.

"Lena, don't look!" Kara calls from the kitchen. "I'm making you the best ice cream bowl ever, you can't watch."

Lena grins and turns back around. "All right, babe."

A minute later Maggie pushes a bowl of ice cream into Lena's hands. "This was all Kara," she says, laughing as Lena's brows raise, eyes going wide in amusement and slight disgust as she takes in the amount of sprinkles, whipped cream, and chocolate piled on top of the ice cream, quite literally burying it in the bowl.

"Don't make a face! It's the best ever, Lena," Kara says as she plops down and the CEO curls into her side.

Maggie just gives a knowing smile and pats Lena's shoulder before she moves to take a seat with Alex. "I feel ya, girl. These Danvers sisters," she shakes her head with a grin. "They're a lot to handle sometimes."

"Hey!" Alex nudges her foot into Maggie's side, sends the detective jumping upward with a squeal, almost knocking over her ice cream.

"Chill, Danvers. I wasn't finished." She rolls her eyes dramatically. "We love you two anyway," Maggie says and settles back against the couch. "Despite your massive sugar consumption."

"Hey if you're so bothered by it, give Kara your ice cream. She'll eat it," Alex challenges, raises her brows at Maggie, and Kara perks up, nodding so enthusiastically that her bun bounces over the top of her head, hair falling in her face.

"Kara doesn't need any more sugar, she's already hyped up. I'm _helping,"_ Maggie teases, eating some of her ice cream. "See?"

"All I see is you being a hypocrite," Alex says, grinning and knocking Maggie's bowl up so whipped cream smooshes her nose.

" _Hey,"_ she pouts.

"One sec," Alex says, presses a kiss to Maggie's nose. "All better."

"Gross," Kara murmurs.

Maggie's response is to pull Alex into a full kiss, one hand working its way to the back of Alex's head while the other finds her hip.

"That's my sister you're touching!" Kara yells and tosses a pillow at them before making a face and turning away to the sound of Alex and Maggie's laughter as they pull apart and clink their spoons together, Kara allows herself instead to see Lena tucked against her side. "You have to admit, it's good," she says, expression serious and earnest.

Lena takes a bite of the ice cream and shrugs. "It's kind of ehh," she says, just to see the indignant expression that pulls across Kara's face, the flushing of cheeks and jaw dropping, the theatrical huff that follows and finally, the grin that lights up Kara's features when she realizes Lena's teasing as the CEO scoops out another spoonful. "Lena Luthor," she begins, hyperbolic shock and hurt lacing her voice. "You little…" she trails off, squinting at Lena and shaking her head, trying to inch out the most dramatic term she can. "You…"

"Luthor?" Lena provides, pursing her lips and lifting her eye brow in the way that always makes Kara's heart go crazy.

She bites her bottom lip. "Exactly." Her façade falls into grin and Lena follows suit, and Kara can't help but steal a kiss from her girlfriend.

They smile against each other's lips for a moment before leaning back. "If it makes you feel any better," Lena begins. "I _am_ glad that Jess called you. This is nice."

Kara smiles, brushes her fingers through Lena's hair and the pounding in the CEO's head ebbs further away. "Yeah?" Kara says.

"Yeah."

"You gonna call me yourself someday when you aren't feeling great?"

Lena laughs again and snuggles into Kara's touch. "Sure. Someday."


	2. Chapter 2

The door cracks open and Lena looks up, brow arched expectantly. " _Kara_ ," Lena says, lets her girlfriend's name hang in the air, looks sharply thought the lenses of glasses she almost only ever wears at home. In front of her, two stacks of papers sit ominously, a testament to the work she's done (spent her _whole_ day doing since six that morning) and the work she still has to do (at least twelve more hours looms over her, an all-nighter has been impending for weeks now, if she's being honest with herself).

The sun has long since set.

"Hey," Kara says weakly, a sheepish smile on her face. "I brought-"

Lena knows. Lena knows Kara's brought food, has been hounding Lena about eating all week. It was sweet and thoughtful at first, but now she really just needs to get work done. She'll eat when she's finished, although Kara seems to think she's incapable of that. "Kara, I told you not to come, I'm too busy. I don't have any time to do anything other than manage these reports right now. You _know_ how busy things have been with my mother's trail coming up, have you not heard anything I've said over the past two days?" Lena huffs and rubs her forehead, feels heat flush her face. "Did Jess call you?"

Kara's hesitation gives Lena the answer she needs. She opens her mouth, a snap about to lurch from her lips when Kara interjects.

"But I told her to," she says quickly, can sense that Lena's reaction is tense, that she's already been neglecting taking care of herself. "Don't be mad at Jess, it's not on her. I know you haven't eaten since this morning and it's almost ten. I just-Lena you are _so bad_ at taking care of yourself and I hate that." Kara's own heart begins to thunder, she curls her fingers more tightly around the takeout bag clutched in her hand. "It's so frustrating. I _hate_ that you do this."

The exasperation on Lena's face slips for a moment and hurt quivers across her features before it's guarded by annoyance again. "Yeah, Kara, well I hate it, too. It's hard to unlearn _years_

of being brought up and conditioned this way, but you know what? Next time, I'll just shake it off, try not to be something _you_ hate." Her hands shake and she drops her gaze to hide the tears that blur her vision, hot on the edge of her lashes.

She's unstable and emotional and exhausted, and nothing has been going right for her this week.

Kara swallows thickly, tries to take a step closer but Lena pushes back in her chair and pulls her arms closer to her sides. She's a fraction away from hugging herself, from letting out the shaky exhale that begs to spill forward.

"Lena, I didn't mean it like that, I swear."

Lena looks up at her, blinking and silent.

"I'm sorry, really. I love you, Lena. I love everything about you and that's why it's so hard to watch when you get like this. You have spirals and it's scary because I don't know how to help, how to make you feel better. That's all I ever want to do. I just want to help and show you how much I love you."

Lena sniffles and something in her expression falls away, breaks apart into regret and guilt. "I'm sorry," she says, lets the words carry on the shaky exhale that finally escapes as she drops her head into her hands. "I'm trying, Kara. I'm really trying to be better for you."

"Be better for you too, Lena, because you deserve to be taken care of, okay? You deserve love and comfort and help whenever you need it, and even when you don't."

"I'm sorry," she says again.

"Don't be sorry," Kara says, gives a small smile, tilting her head and looking at Lena fondly. "I'm sorry, too. Just come eat with me."

"Okay," Lena agrees and rises shaking from her desk.

"Are we good? Is it okay if I hug you?" Kara asks and Lena nods, sinks into the embrace Kara wraps around her. In the tightness of Kara's hold everything begins to slip away, her senses consumed by the feeling of Kara's arms, the wave of blonde hair she buries her face into; her soft vanilla scent; the gentle hand running up and down her back.

Lena curls her own arms around Kara. "I'm worried I won't be able to stomach much, I'm stressed right now and I'm nervous about this whole new trial for my mother."

"That's okay," Kara murmurs into the younger woman's dark hair, rocks Lena gently. "I figured you might not be feeling too great so I picked up soup... and donuts," she says with a grin, leaning back to brush the soft, pale skin of Lena's cheek. "In case you're feeling better once we get some food in that stomach of yours."

Lena smiles, lips curving and eyes crinkling for the first time that day.

"Just eat what you can," Kara says, presses a kiss to Lena's nose.

Lena nods and burrows against her girlfriend, falling back into her arms for another moment and soaking up the warmth. She nestles her face against Kara's neck, her breath warm when she murmurs "I love you, Kara. I love you so much."

Kara laughs softly and kisses the CEO again, lips pressed against Lena's temple. "I love you, too."

"I really am sorry for how I acted earlier, you were just trying to help," Lena says, dips her head as her gaze seeks out the floor. The days people find her most difficult are the days she feels the same way about herself. "You always are, and I-"

"Hey." Kara gently nudges Lena's chin back up, sees starlight from the night sky reflecting back in Lena's eyes—shiny and bright. "You're stressed and tired and there's a lot going on right now. I should have listened better."

Lena's about to say something when her stomach grumbles and Kara laughs, tugs the woman over to the couch and grabs the bags of food. "Let's eat."


	3. Chapter 3

She doesn't mean to deprive herself of sleep. It just sort of happens over a month or two, when the hours bleed together and the pages blur and the rest of the world is hidden behind a barricade of reports, designs, and write-ups.

Her mother has staged another attack, public and violent against all the aliens of National City. It fails to some degree, but not before lives are lost.

The CEO has an important meeting with investors that's been hanging over her head for the better part of six months.

Lena won't sleep when Kara is out saving the world.

There's tech to be refined, weaponry to be designed, chemical formulas to be combined.

There are reports to be signed, files to review.

There is always work to do,

And she will always do her best.

It's not that she doesn't sleep. She just doesn't sleep _a lot._ She manages three or four hours on week nights and goes into what Kara refers to as 'hibernation' on Sundays when she typically has the day off and sometimes sleeps for upwards of 10 hours. Kara is especially dismayed by Lena's habits. _("It's not healthy, Lena!"_ Kara had pushed a hand through her hair. _"It's literally so unhealthy! I swear, I won't hesitate to call Alex and have her tell you just how unhealthy it is."—_ the eldest Danvers sister has sleeping issues of her own. She and Lena sometimes joke about them to exasperate Kara.)

She promises Kara that she'll take better care of herself when the month ends and things settle down. But they never do.

It's a Wednesday. It's 10 at night and all the lights are turned on in the CEO's office. It's 10 at night and Lena's been awake for 41 hours and she _knows_ she needs to sleep—can tell each time the room spins a little and her hand shakes around the pen in her fingers. She didn't go into this situation with a good foundation: her last sleep enduring for precisely 3.5 hours.

But there is so much to do, because Kara got injured the previous week by a new chemical—some derivative of green kryptonite that had emerged in a remote facility and found its way into the city during a fight.

And Kara had fallen. Fallen from the sky to the ground and smashed into the pavement, and while she's 100% absolutely " _I swear to Rao, Lena"_ fine, the CEO can't shake the image from her head. So she works, works to figure out what can dismantle the chemical weapon should it arise again. And she's _so_ close.

She's so close, she can't stop now, even though everything is blurred around the edges and her skin feels hot despite the chills that come and go, and her eyelids already hang halfway closed, and she feels a little like she might throw up if she stands too fast.

She tugs another document off the stack on her desk, surrounded by a graveyard of empty coffee mugs and crumpled sheets of inconclusive data.

"Miss Luthor?" There's a knock on the door.

"Come in," Lena calls and rubs the heel of her palm across her eyes.

"I was just checking to see if I could get you something?" Jess offers. "Or umm… call your driver perhaps?"

"I thought you'd gone home already, Jess," Lena says, bypassing the questions. "You don't need to be here this late."

"I said I would stay until the new reports from the lab came in, so I could organize them before they got to you. Remember?"

"Right, of course," Lena says as scraps of the conversation come back to her and she becomes aware that she is missing large chunks of time from this day. "Well, I certainly did not expect it to take this long. Go home, Jess," Lena says gently. "I'm sorry you waited so long, I didn't mean to keep you here."

"It's okay, Miss Luthor. Will you be leaving shortly?"

"I just have to look over these reports," Lena says, taps a heap in front of her with the end of her pen.

"I might be overstepping here, but you should probably get some rest. I know you didn't go home last night."

"I'm fine, Jess. I appreciate your concern, but there's some work I still need to get done." _I'll be here all night, if I have to; and probably even if I don't._

Jess nods, mind already made up. Kara is the only one who can make sure Jess' boss is taken care of, which leaves one option. "Have a good night, Miss Luthor."

"You as well, Jess."

"And, keep in mind, I can clear your schedule tomorrow if you need time off. There isn't anything extremely pressing," Jess says and skirts around the closing door before Lena can immediately reject her offer.

The minute the door is shut, Lena lets her forehead drop onto the pile of papers, and Jess returns to her own desk and dials the number that is quickly moving up on the office speed dial.

"Jess? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, it's just that I think Miss Luthor would benefit from seeing you."

Kara's already gathering her stuff from her desk at CatCo, closing out of the article she's spent most of the night working on. She looks at the clock and curses, she didn't realize it'd gotten so late. "What's wrong? She's exhausted and refusing to go home, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"I'm on my way over now. Go home, Jess, I'll take care of her. Thank you for calling me."

/

"Lena," Kara says softly as she cracks open the door and steps inside.

"Kara, hi." The CEO tears her eyes away from the document in front of her, allows herself the pleasure of seeing Kara's sweet face looking back at her.

"Come home?" Kara tries, stepping closer. Moonlight outside glimmers off her hair, casts shadows across her frame.

"There's nothing I want more, but I need to finish up here and there's so much to do-"

Kara inches toward her again.

"—and I've hardly made any real progress. I'm trying my best but the magnitude is just too large and everything I try falls short and I have to get this right because if I don't you might get hurt again and I _can't—"_

The blonde takes a step closer.

 _"—_ Kara, I can't go through that another time, so I have to stay here and I have to get this done because if I don't… Kara, if I don't, so many bad things could happen and I—"

"Okay, okay, shhh," Kara whispers, pulls Lena out of her seat so she's pressed against Kara and held close. "I'm okay, Lena, and so are you. Everything's going to be okay." Lena lets Kara sway them for a minute, lets Kara's soft words wash over her.

One of Kara's hands rubs Lena's back, the other tangles in dark hair as Lena allows herself to stand limp, face nestling Kara's neck and eyes closing. "You don't feel good, love," Kara whispers, lips brushing Lena's forehead.

"I have a low-grade fever," Lena mumbles, and it's really no surprise that her persistent lack of sleep has led to this.

"Since when?" Kara asks gently, leaning back to look at her girlfriend, scrutinize her face for any other signs of discomfort. She doesn't like the exhaustion expressing itself in tired, red eyes and downturned lips. Kara tugs her back into a hug.

Lena shrugs. "A few hours."

"Please come home with me, Lena. You need to rest and I miss you, I'm worried."

"Kara, I need to work. I—"

"Lena, _please."_ Kara tilts back, moves her hands to both of Lena's shoulders. "This can all wait. None of it is anywhere near as important as your health. It scares me when you get like this."

Lena is silent for a while, staring into Kara's blue eyes, before Lena's water and she crashes back into Kara's embrace. "I can't lose you."

"And you won't," Kara promises, strokes Lena's hair. "Babe, you're exhausted. Can I please take you back to my place? Let me take care of you?"

Lena nods, nose bobbing against Kara's shoulder. She doesn't trust herself to talk without crying, but Kara doesn't question it. She keeps Lena held against her frame with one hand, uses the other to gather the CEO's things.

"Let's go home," Kara says and Lena's nearly asleep before they even take to the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

"Miss Luthor, you're bleeding."

"I'm what?"

"Bleeding. You're bleeding."

"I—" The hand she draws away from her hairline is sticky and painted red. "Oh."

"I think you should sit," Jess says as Lena steps further into the light of the nearly empty office, coming back from a coffee run. Jess stands and puts her hands on Lena's shoulders as the CEO sways in front of her assistant's desk.

"Miss Luthor, this looks really bad, you look really hurt."

Lena winces as she moves, and Jess shifts away from her chair, eases Lena so she's sitting there instead.

"What happened?" Jess asks, voice thick with concern as Lena blinks and swallows, grimacing the whole time.

God, she looks a mess—awful and dazed with the long blinks she gives through bruising and swelling eyelids.

"I—it's nothing. Just some guys out on the street, lurking outside L-Corp, wanting money and revenge on _a Luthor,"_ she spits the last part, disgust rolling of her tongue and it hurts Jess to see that the loathing Lena projects is aimed at herself rather than the men who did this to her. "God knows what they're upset about this time. But they took a couple thousand dollars instead of my life so it—it could have been worse. They—they took away the gun after a—a while, once I got out the money."

"You need to report this!" Jess says, already reaching toward the phone.

Lena quickly shakes her head and _oh,_ that was a bad idea. The pounding in her skull expands, branches into murky, thick nausea that accumulates in her stomach; into spotty vision with blinking lights and dark circles. She hold her head for a moment, fingers pressing into her forehead.

"I'm fine." Deep breath. "I'll just go home in a bit, sleep it off. I don't want to involve the police." Deep breath. _Don't think, don't think, don't think._ "Makes it worse and ughh—" she breaks off, brings a second hand to her head and leaves it there.

"Miss Luthor, that's it I'm calling an ambulance and then I'm calling the police. People can't just—"

"No!" Lena yelps, shoots upright before sinking back down with a groan.

She hears Jess move the phone, removing her hand from the chair.

"No, Jess, _please,"_ her voice is gargled and miserable and her words come in a slurred heap. The thought of talking with the police, answering question to disappointed faces, having foreign hands touch her stinging skin and burning muscle and aching bones makes her stomach clench and yank.

Jess stands nervously, bites her lip as she wavers between her boss and the landline. "Is there anyone I can call for you? Someone who can help?"

Lena shrugs and sniffles painfully.

 _Kara._ Lena's heart screams, but her lips stay closed.

Jess wracks her brain, the image of a blonde reporter emerges and sticks at the forefront of her thoughts.

"What about Miss Danvers?" Jess tries, finally. "I can call her for you."

Lena gives a small nod, tilts her head back against the chair, squeezing her eyes closed, holding her abdomen with one hand while the other rubs against her forehead.

Kara's phone rings when she's a couple thousand feet in the air, but the tone is a special beep reserved for Jess, because calls from Jess mean calls about Lena.

Kara yanks her phone from the pocket sewn into her super suit, flies higher to put some distance between her and the alien she's fighting, buy her some time to take a quick call—Rao, she can already hear Alex simultaneously teasing and berating her for this.

"Hey, Jess!"

"Kara." Jess' voice is chilling, strict with fear, rather than the usual exasperated concern that drives these calls.

"Miss Luthor got attacked, mugged or something outside L-Corp. She's up with me now, but refusing to contact the police and she—she needs medical attention but won't let me call."

 _Shit._ Kara's heart aches. The alien's gaining on her and she can't let more citizens get hurt.

Kara tugs a hand through her hair, flits to dodge an attack. "Ask Lena if she'll let Alex help her. She'll know who you're talking about."

Jess' presence over the phone line disappears for a moment and then returns. "She nodded."

"Good," Kara breathes out some relief. "Listen, does Lena have her phone on her?"

"Yes."

"Alex is my sister, she's trained in medicine. Her number is Lena's third speed dial. I'd call her myself, but I—I'm in a pressing situation and don't have much time before I have to go. But Alex is good and she's close to L-Corp. Tell her what happened and she'll come."

"Okay." Jess nods, voice shaky as she tosses another worried look at Lena, curls the phone wire around her finger.

"Listen, you're doing great, Jess. I'll get there as soon as I can." Kara dodges a hit and curses under her breath. "Would—can I talk to Lena real quick?"

"Of course. I—thank you, I'll see you soon."

Jess taps Lena's shoulder gently to get her attention and the dark haired woman groans, blinks before closing her eyes again.

"It's Kara," Jess says softly, thrusts the phone into Lena's shaking hand.

"Hey, love," Kara says, keeps her voice gentle.

"Kara," Lena breaths out.

"Yeah, hey I'm coming as soon as I can, all right?"

Lena swallows. "It's not a big deal, Kara."

The blonde rolls her eyes. "I'm in an easy fight right now, I'll be there in a few minutes. Alex will probably get there first, Maggie will probably be with her. You just hang tight for a bit. I love you," Kara says and Lena says it back softly, timidly, before Kara closes her eyes for a moment and hangs up, turning toward her opponent with a new kind of anger and fire… the fight isn't even close to fair after that.

/

"Oh, kid," Maggie murmurs as she drops to her knees in front of Lena, behind her Alex asks Jess a few questions. "Hey," Maggie whispers, gently cups Lena's face. Beneath her fingers, Lena's skin is purple and tainted with drying crimson. Lena's bottom lip quivers.

"Oh, hey hey hey Lena, you're okay," Maggie says, wraps Lena into the softest hug she can manage. "You're going to be fine." Maggie pulls back and smiles, brushing hair behind Lena's ear. She'll talk to Lena about reporting the incident later—will take the case herself if she has to—but right now Lena doesn't need a detective or cop, she needs a friend.

"It's okay," she says, rubbing Lena's back with gentle fingers. "You've got nothing to worry about anymore. It's okay, I promise."

"Hey, Lena," Alex says as she comes over, takes the med kit off her shoulder where it'd hung from a strap. "Let's get this over with before Kara has the chance to show up in the middle of it and freak out."

Lena laughs a little, breathy and shallow, but a smile follows.

"Okay," she murmurs.

Maggie keeps a hand on Lena's shoulder, rubs gently.

"Good," Alex smiles back and Lena reciprocates one last time before she closes her eyes again to block out the harsh office lighting against the dark night sky, and the pounding in her head.

"What hurts the most right now?" Alex's voice prods through Lena's skull.

She shrugs and Alex looks down at Lena's arm, one still wrapped around her ribs.

"I'm gonna start here, okay?" Alex says, taps Lena's abdomen gently. "And Maggie's going to clean you up a bit while I do this. Is it okay if I pull up your shirt to get a better look?"

Lena nods and Alex eases the shirt upward, fingers delicate around the array of color blooming across Lena's ribs and middle. Alex notices—with a surge of affection almost causing her to freeze—that the clench of her heart when she sees Lena hurt, is the same tug she feels when Kara's the one injured and vulnerable.

Alex slows down, smiles softly and looks up at Lena, rubs her shoulder before continuing. "You're going to be okay, Lena. We've got you, we're gonna take care of you."

It's a promise.

Alex will keep it. She always does.

/

"Oh, sweetheart," Kara sighs when she sets her eyes on the woman, on the purple around her eyes and the busted lip and ice and bandages and bloodied washcloths.

Lena flicks her eyes over Alex's shoulder, past the small flashlight aimed into her gaze. The image is fuzzy and colors blink in her way, but she makes out blonde hair on a familiar figure, drawing closer and closer until she's right there and her hand finds Lena's, curls around it, and her lips brush Lena's cheekbone, linger on her forehead.

"Kara," Lena slurs, surprised, as though they hadn't talked earlier.

"I'm right here." Her voice is smooth and low and warm.

Everything around Lena is suddenly quiet and the world is still.

Kara is there, and like hot tea and sunrises and stars in the night sky, she fills Lena with warmth, her presence washes over the younger woman, unravels her walls and embraces her.

Lena's eyes flutter closed as Kara threads her fingers in the CEO's hair, massages her head with soft touches. Lena melts into her side, drifts away as Alex's voice addresses Kara, murmuring something about concussions and broken ribs and bruising.

A hand finds Lena's back, rubs circles in time with the fingers in her hair.

 _Kara._ It's Kara.

And then, she's gone, lost in Kara's touches and soft words; twisting her head into Kara's stomach and letting out a sob as she curls her arms around Kara's middle. Because L-Corp had been safe; because she was only making a coffee run when she ended up with a gun pressed against her temple; because she has people to lose now and somehow that's scarier than facing bullets.

Because even on her worst days Kara's here, holding her close, murmuring _I love you I love you I love you_ with so much ease that Lena's words slip back between her sobs like gentle streams caressing mountainsides and valleys, like the promise of a sunrise, or the simplicity of lips pressed together.

"I love you," Lena whispers, voice quivering against Kara's abdomen.

Kara presses a kiss to Lena's head.

Kara's here and Lena's home.

She makes a mental note to thank Jess for calling Kara in the first place; thinks maybe, that someday is coming soon—someday she'll do it herself.

Then Kara pulls her up gently, takes the CEO into her arms, and everything else ceases to exist as Lena's head dips against Kara's neck and she breathes out an exhale of _I love you,_ all over again.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thanks for sticking with me through all of this, I really appreciate it. Here's the last part, hope you enjoy!

* * *

It's been 3 weeks since the attack.

Rain pounds the windows and the sound echoes, reverberates through the office to Lena's head. Thunder cracks and booms, shakes the edge of her desk. Lighting burns through the night sky.

She's the only one at L-Corp, finishing up some final hand drawn reports.

One minute she's making coffee—her sixth cup of the day because the night offers her no sleep these past weeks, just tossing and turning and fear that brings cold sweats and bolting up right and shaking hands—and then the next, the lights in the office flicker and shut off with a grand hum that crescendos before cutting out and leaving the room in silence. Her chest tightens and a shiver wracks its way up her spine.

Her heartbeat leaps and the dizziness sets in. The impending feeling of dread grasps its hands around her insides, sends nausea sloshing around and tingling sensations pricking at her cells.

 _Damn it,_ she knows what's coming; knows it's irrational and naïve to think she'll be able to stop it this time as darkness floods in and her vision is reduced to nothing in the pitch black. She is unarmed to the memories that contort in her head at the sudden lack of light—just like the alley, just like that night.

With unstable swaying legs she makes it to the desk, curses the generator that never got installed, the other things she's pushed backed because really, how many times did she expect the power to go out? She shuffles her hand through papers, patting around the desk until she finds her phone, grabs it.

Three weeks since she's felt in control of her life—of her emotions, her reactions, and her relationships.

Her stomach clenches, lungs constricting. Her plan to find candles is immediately forgotten, all logic fleeting and lost as nightmare torrents in and drowns out her senses. She stumbles, kicks off her heels and paces, tries in vain to dispel the mounting panic. _Just think, damn it!_

Her toe slams into the edge of her couch and she curses, dropping down onto the furniture. Her desperate fingers grasp around a blanket, pull a pillow towards her chest and squeeze.

She'll wait it out. She'll handle it alone, like she always has. It's habit, it's natural, it's normal.

Except nothing about this is normal. Twenty four year olds are not supposed to be CEOs and they're not supposed to have brothers in jail for mass murder and they aren't supposed to have mothers that don't love them; they aren't supposed to be attacked for their last names and their brains shouldn't stop working because the lights went out; they shouldn't be terrified of the dark and they shouldn't have phantom feelings of the barrel of guns pressed against temples; they shouldn't be surprised to have friends, brought to tears by hugs and the simple yet weighted promise of "I'll see you tomorrow, get some rest, okay?" shouldn't be something they spend all night repeating back to themselves.

Lena can't help but think she shouldn't be like this.

Three weeks of panic rising, compiling up to this moment where it will catch fire and burn a hole inside her.

She pulls her knees up and swallows. There's dark behind her eyes and there's dark when they're open. Her breath hitches, inhales begin to burn as the time between them shortens. Her stomach clenches tighter and aches. Heat flushes her neck, up her cheeks, to her forehead. Ice cold runs down.

There's the feeling of a gun pressed against her head, comes back just like it always does.

The knowledge that threat exists only in her mind does nothing to thwart the havoc it wracks on her body, tearing through her core and spreading outward.

Three weeks of waiting for the strength of her façade to crumble, and here it is. Torn down by a stupid, insignificant power outage in the middle of storm.

A vibration beside her sends her jumping, yelping, shaking into pieces until she looks down, eyes drawn to the dimmed white light. _Her phone. Kara._ Her fingers move on their own accord, unlock it, click the contact and call.

The whole time her mind screams.

Everything is so dark.

It's so dark.

She is so alone.

But maybe, maybe she doesn't have to be.

"Kara," she manages to choke out through the lump in her throat, the sob that augments in size and power behind her ribs. "Kara, I need you." Her voice is a watery strain against the storm outside, a whisper that quivers against the air and fights between the hyperventilation that consumes her lungs.

There's a bang that cracks through the sky—something Lena initially thinks is thunder, but later identifies as the sound barrier being broken.

Then there's Kara, kneeling in front of Lena with worry etched across her face in the darkness. The blonde fiddles with her own phone, flipping on the flashlight and putting it beside Lena, the image of Kara's face is the first she sees against the memories that yank her down, away from reality and logic.

Then Kara's looking at Lena, reminding her to breathe, trying to coax her from the traitor her brain has become.

"Hey, hey, Lena you're okay. I've got you." She ducks to catch Lena's eyes. "Is it okay if I touch you?"

Lena manages to give a small nod as tears stream from her cheeks, turn her throat raw, lungs working up and down, up and down. But Kara smiles at her, tucks Lena's dark hair behind her ear.

"Let's focus on breathing, okay?"

Her hands come up to find Lena's face, cup her cheeks, thumbs rubbing softly along her skin.

Lena hiccups and squeezes her eyes closed, pulls ravaging, desperate breaths into her lungs.

A tear slips out from behind her closed eyes and she reaches a hand forward, fingers jutting in Kara's direction, clutching at the fabric of the blonde's shirt as panic takes her away.

"Hey," Kara whispers and her voice is low and smooth—soothing as it rises in Lena's head, coats her mind. "Hey, it's okay, I'm right here and I've got you, all right? I've got you. You're safe."

She takes Lena's hand and squeezes, guides it to her own chest and splays the CEO's hands over her heart. "You're okay, I promise."

Lena lets out a strangled sob and then her chest heaves in silent gasps, tears slowing to hiccups to gentle streams that ebb and fade. Kara stays—always stays, rubbing her hand up and down Lena's back, whispering in her ear.

When Lena tilts back, opening her eyes, Kara is there, illuminated by the cellphone light and looking back with a soft smile.

She eases Lena's still shaking hand from her chest, brushes a kiss against it before she uses her own hands to steady Lena, one on each shoulder.

"You don't have to do this alone, Lena. I'm right here with you and I always will be. If I'm not, all you have to do is call, you know that."

Lena nods.

She knows it, finally does, all because of a power outage in the middle of storm that seems less stupid and less insignificant in this moment as she sinks into Kara's hold and finds truth in the words Kara's been promising for so long.

"Kind of a shitty someday." Lena murmurs, buries her face against Kara's shoulder in an attempt to stave off the mounting headache behind her forehead.

Kara shrugs, threads fingers through Lena's hair, easing it from the perfect bun, letting it unravel into loose dark curls. "Tomorrow will be better," she promises.

"And if it's not?"

Kara kisses Lena's hairline and the CEO melts, relents to the exhaustion drooping her eyelids. "Then you'll call me, and I'll be here, no matter how good or how bad, for all of your somedays."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I hope you enjoy this bonus chapter, as requested :) thanks again!

* * *

"Are you home?" Kara's voice is tinny as it carries over the phone, reaches Lena just a few miles away. "I know it's earlier than usual but I remember you said you might be able to get away more quickly today and I just, I-"

"I'm at my place. Are you on your way?" Lena ask, a hopeful lilt carrying in her words.

Kara swallows and nods, croaks out a 'yes, almost there' before she hangs up.

Mere minutes later the door to Lena's apartment creeks open—a soft, hesitant moan against the setting sun that's long since begun its descent across the sky, spilling gold across the city. Lena lets her book drop into her lap, curls over the side of the couch to see Kara easing the door closed. Her back is to Lena, so all the CEO can see is a mop of blonde hair and Kara's elbow moving as it works against the lock.

"Hmm, no window tonight?" Lena teases, pushing her book to the side and moving her blanket to stand.

Kara grunts in reply, still facing the door. "Damn it!" she cries out suddenly. A boom vibrates through the apartment, shakes the frame and Lena turns on her heel, brows raised as she sees Kara's hand slam against the door before hovering again.

Kara's always, always careful with her super strength.

Until this moment. Until right now.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Lena says, slides between Kara and the shaking piece of wood. She tries to seek out the blonde's eyes where they're hidden behind a curtain of mused hair from her hanging head. Kara heaves a tremble of a breath, sends her hair blowing. Lena ducks again, still can't find Kara's gaze. "Jesus Kara what's wrong?"

"The lock won't close," she murmurs miserably with tears lacing her words, sweeps a quivering hand under her hair and pushes it back all while keeping her eyes trained on the ground.

"Yeah, I can take care of that," Lena says, twists the lock and looks back up at Kara. "But something else is clearly going on."

Kara shakes her head, swipes fingers beneath her eyes.

"Kara, darling, something is bothering you, it's okay whatever it is. I just want to help you." She reaches out for Kara's hand where she notices it trembling at her side, but the blonde slinks back and turns away.

"I just—I…" She swallows, shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"We don't have to. We can just sit or lie down and snuggle up in bed or… or I can order in dinner, or—"

"I think—I think I'm just gonna go take a shower," Kara says and nods. "Yeah. I'm gonna go take a shower." Then she disappears down the hall and the bathroom door closes and Lena's left standing in the foyer.

She hears the water turn on, splatter against the bathroom tiles and whistle through the pipes. Lena blinks, then Lena moves, collecting blankets and setting Kara's favorite on top of the stack. On their bed, Lena lays out her MIT t-shirt that Kara always takes when she needs to feel close and sleep shorts with little pink hearts, so old the elastic at the waistband unravels just slightly at the hip.

She checks her phone for any texts from Alex or news updates that might elucidate Kara's distress, but Lena's lock screen is void of notifications so she uses it instead to place orders at Kara's favorite takeout restaurants before tossing the device aside.

She drags her feet back toward the kitchen, chases an ache in her chest whose source she can't quite place as she moves lingering glasses from the counter to the dishwasher, walks to the living room and straightens the stack of Kara's papers on the coffee table, places her own files back in her bag and drops her book on the nightstand in their bedroom. She stays in there, making the bed and adjusting the pillows before going back to the kitchen. The house is too quiet with Kara home but away, there but gone, with the distant whooshing of water filling the air instead of Kara's melodic voice. Lena pulls out ingredients for hot chocolate just as a thump booms from down the hall.

Lena drops the bag of marshmallows in her hand, body moving before her brain can think of anything beyond worry. Her legs jerk into a jog, fingers already turning the knob on the bathroom door, thankful that it's unlocked as she calls Kara's name.

"Kara," she tries and is met with running water in response.

" _Kara!"_ she calls again, pulling back the shower curtain to see Kara sitting, with her legs pulled up to her chest, arms slung around her shins, pulling her body tightly as she buries her face in her knees and her shoulders heave with sobs.

Lena's stomach flips. "Kara," she whispers again, moves to reach her. The shower water scorches against her skin and her arm jerks back on reflex. She curses and turns the knob until the stream of steamy water stops and she snatches a towel from the closet, kneeling in front of her girlfriend. "Kara, sweetheart, what is going on with you? Hmm?" she hums softly, her voice level despite the panic that begs to poke through.

Kara's response is a whimper and gasp for breath.

"Okay, hey, hey, it's all right," Lena says and opens up the towel, draping it across Kara's back. "Let's get you out of here, okay? Get you dried off." She eases Kara upward and the blonde follows, lets Lena direct her movements, tugs the towel tightly around her shivering body and glues her eyes to the floor, smattered with puddles of warm water.

"Come on, love," Lena says, steers Kara through the door and into the bedroom. Lena gives the blonde her distance, but keeps a hand on her back, around her side, keeping her upright and standing just a little longer. The mattress dips as Lena guides Kara down until she's sitting on the edge.

Kara's body trembles under Lena's fingers as she helps her get into pajamas, maneuvers limp limbs through fabric. When she finishes and leans back, Kara's eyes are glazed, her breath hitches and her composure crumples into hyperventilation—horrible gasps that wrack her rib cage, make the muscles there ache. Her hands curl into a fist around the bedsheets and tears leap from her tightly shut eyes, draw tracks down her cheeks and trace her jaw before dripping onto the comforter.

"Kara, sweetheart, I'm right here, okay?" Lena says, kneels in front of Kara and bobs blurrily in her vision.

But Kara just sobs, stares straight ahead, and there's a knock at the door. Lena curses, tugs her phone from her back pocket and sees a text from her doorman, indicating that her takeout order has arrived, was checked by security and charged on her card. She has to text him back to see if it can be left in the hallway for a few minutes, because one look at Kara's face and she knows she can't leave her, knows she won't. Not even for a minute, until Kara's in control of her own lungs. So as soon as the reply comes, Lena tucks her phone back into her pocket and kneels in front of Kara.

"It's okay, Kara, you're safe. Everything is fine. I'm right here and we're going to get through this."

Kara's gaze is unwavering, stuck out in the distance as her body shakes and her lungs scream and tears run over her eyelashes, splatter down.

"Let's just breathe, okay? Nice and easy, just do the best you can."

Kara nods. The little tilt of her chin finally tells Lena that she's getting through. The brunette gives her a small smile and Kara's eyes drift away from the wall, snap down to Lena's and Kara launches herself forward to Lena, wraps her arms around her neck, sobs into her shoulder with a whole new kind of weight cracking inside her.

"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you," Lena promises, rocks Kara and holds her tight as they kneel on the ground, on their knees together. Holds her as Kara sobs until there's nothing left, until she's empty and aching and clutching Lena, chest heaving and face crumpling.

"I didn't know," Kara murmurs for the fourth time in a row, voice a watery mess of slurring syllables and she buries her head deeper into the crook of Lena's shoulder, presses her face into dark hair, soaks it with tears.

"It's okay," Lena says and runs a hand over Kara's back, up and down slowly over and over again. "You're okay."

Kara shakes harder in her arms, grasps at Lena as if she can't get her close enough.

The city is drenched in nightfall by the time Kara sniffles and leans back, sees Lena smiling softly at her, reaching out to brush away Kara's drying tears with the pad of her thumb.

Kara blinks back, her bottom lip quivering at the softness of Lena's touch, at the light and the years and love that shines in her green eyes.

"Hey." Lena's voice is safety and promise and warmth. Kara looks up at her, feels Lena's fingers gently tilting her chin up. "Hey, come on, let's get up, okay?"

Kara nods, lets Lena guide her upward and tucks into her side as they walk. She slips her fingers into Lena's as they go to the door, collect the takeout boxes and move to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," Kara says as they set the food on the counter and her face falls.

"For what?" Lena turns, gives her full attention to Kara, and squeezes the hand in her own.

"I don't—I can't eat right now." Kara says and dips her head back against Lena. "But you already ordered all this food and it was so thoughtful and I—"

"Hey, shh, it's okay. Really, Kara, I don't mind at all. How about hot chocolate?"

Kara scrunches up her nose, bites her lip apologetically.

Lena laughs softly and runs a hand over Kara's hair. "What about tea? I can make you some really nice tea, a Lena Luthor specialty."

Kara gives a watery laugh, wipes her eyes. "Yeah, okay, that sounds good."

"Perfect," Lena says, beams at Kara and boosts her up onto the counter, keeps her within reach as she makes tea, and Kara latches back onto her side when they settle on the couch a few minutes later and Lena idly switches through the channels. The silence stretched between them grows fragile as their cups empty and when Lena moves forward, deposits their mugs on the coffee table, the silence is taut like a rubber band pulled too thin.

Lena takes a deep breath and shatters it."Kar?"

"Hmm?" she murmurs back, words tired but brain still awake and spinning. She rubs her fingers against her forehead where a headache has been pounding for the past two hours.

"What—Can I ask you about earlier today?"

Kara curls into Lena with a heavy sigh, closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them moisture pools in the corners, but she nods, nose brushing against Lena's skin.

"What happened?" Lena asks, tries to catch Kara's eyes. "Why—why did you keep saying you didn't know?"

Against the CEO's abdomen, Kara tenses, breathes in a stuttering breath and lets it out in a rush of words. "He killed them… I saved a man three months ago and the police show up at his house today ju-just two h-hours ago after an anonymous phone call from neighbors about gunshots and when they walk inside…" she sucks in a breath against her yanking diaphragm as it hammers against her ribs. "The-they they walk inside a-an—and –and…"

"Breathe, Kara, it's okay. It's okay."

"—and he killed them!" Kara bolts upright as she says it, shakes off Lena's gentle touch.

"The police?"

Kara shakes her head, damp blonde hair catching on clammy cheeks. "His—his _family._ " She collapses back onto Lena's side, fills her hands with Lena's hair, Lena's shirt, Lena's body; tries to drown in the feeling of the woman pressed against her. "He killed his whole entire family, Lena, and it's my fault… if I hadn't saved him… If I had known somehow…"

"Oh, Kara," Lena breathes out, takes the blonde into her arms. "It's not your fault," Lena promises, whispers into her hair. "You _couldn't_ have known."

Kara chokes on a sob and shakes her head, cuddled into Lena's collarbone. Lena hugs her closer.

"Wh-why do people do that? Why did he have to do that? It's not fair. They—they loved hi—him, Lena. I saw his family when I dropped him off that day, they loved him and he—he murdered them, he-" She hiccups and grips Lena's t-shirt so tightly small holes wear into the fabric.

"Shh, sweetheart, breathe with me for a second, okay? You're slipping away again and I don't want to lose you."

Kara nods, lets Lena count out her breathing, slow down the world around her and pull it back.

Lena brushes wet blonde hair off Kara's face, catches a tear with her thumb and kisses the pink skin there. "I don't know," Lena says, returns to Kara's question. "And I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry."

Kara whimpers and rubs at her forehead again, eyes scrunching up. Lena catches Kara's hand, eases it away from the reddening skin.

"Does it hurt?" she asks and Kara gives a nod, bottom lip quivering again and tears spurting from her eyes.

"How about you lie down, hmm?"

Lena pulls a pillow into her lap and Kara slides down across the couch, settles her head on Lena's legs. Lena moves a hand down Kara's back, rubbing gently where she knows Kara holds tension, eventually slips the hand over Kara's side and onto her stomach, where she knows it knots and aches. "I love you, Kara Zor-El," she whispers and Kara clutches the hand on her abdomen, squeezes it in a silent _I love you, too._ The blonde turns, buries her head against Lena's stomach. It's an _I love you more than I can ever say,_ a screaming, shouting silent _I need you._

Lena takes her other hand, threads it softly through Kara's hair, massages her head until tightness drains from Kara's body, her heartrate creeping down as she snuggles closer to Lena and her eyes slip closed. "Thank you," she murmurs thickly against the fabric of Lena's shirt.

"For what, love?"

"Being here," Kara says, choking on her words for a different reason now. "For being you."

Lena presses a kiss into blonde hair, nearly dry now. "Our Someday Rule applies to you, too, you know. Of course, I'm going to be here, and I'm always going to have your back, and I'm always going to be there to sit with you or talk with you or just hold you close. I've got you, Kara."

Kara cuddles more tightly against her girlfriend, whispers another thank you, and believes every word Lena says.


End file.
